Ag Policy Blog

The Risk Management Agency made a couple of announcements on Tuesday. One loosened some rules for prevented planting acres and the other one included the roll out of a new program for small-scale producers.

An Hours of Service waiver was set to expire on Tuesday but the federal government extended the waiver through February. USDA also reported the lowest vaccination rates in the federal government, but the White House is delaying any discipline.

Crop insurance has helped keep more than 80% of producers on the farm, but also has been a factor in eliminating some farms and increasing the size of other farm operations as well. Crop insurance also has resulted in lower market prices for commodities as well.

Growth Energy, the National Biodiesel Board, the National Corn Growers, the National Farmers Union, and the Renewable Fuels Association on Monday announced their support for provisions and agricultural portions of the Build Back Better Act.

House Democrats have put their faith in the Senate, this time with an even more narrow majority, to pass their social agenda or risk campaign attacks for programs that never make it into law. They did that in 2009 and lost.

As Americans focus more on inflationary issues, the American Farm Bureau pegs Thanksgiving costs increasing 14% from a year ago while USDA estimates the increase at 5%.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill later this week on the Build Back Better Act. Its mix of social programs, climate initiatives and tax policy changes are projected to cost roughly $2 trillion over the next decade. The American Farm Bureau Federation...

China and the U.S. combine roughly 40% of global emissions. The two countries agreed to work throughout the next decade on emission reductions and environmental standards, and move towards the emission-reduction goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

With Veterans Day approaching, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations held a hearing on the military and hunger. There were no particular legislation as the focus of the hearing, but the testimony was meant to highlight some of the...

House Ag leadership from both parties have mentioned the need to vet what is in the bill related to agriculture, and what isn't in the bill. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and some of it is coming from committee members.

The final vote on the infrastructure bill came after a day of negotiations among Democrats in Congress and the president. The agreement to shore up Democratic votes for the infrastructure bill also allowed the president's $1.75 trillion social spending package to advance in the...

While the Biden administration continues to issue vaccine mandates for the public and private sectors, USDA and other federal departments so far are not releasing information about how much of their workforce has provided proof of vaccination.

Farm Service Agency is encouraging producers to reach out to their local USDA Service Centers to make changes to their elections and enroll for ARC or PLC for 2022 crops. Changes of enrollment are optional, but producers must sign a new contract each year. The enrollment...